Energy User Amendments

12
78B-6-501
78B-6-502
78B-6-503
0
Energy User Amendments
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Scott D. Sandall
House Sponsor: Calvin Roberts
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill modifies the right to exercise eminent domain for energy users.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
provides the circumstances under which a private party is prohibited from exercising
eminent domain to acquire a right or estate for a pipeline to serve property that is
generating energy; and
provides that the prohibition applies to prospective and pending actions for eminent
domain.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
This bill provides a special effective date.
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
78B-6-501
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2025, Chapter 277
78B-6-502
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2024, Chapters 25, 350
78B-6-503
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2024, Chapter 350
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section
78B-6-501
is amended to read:
78B-6-501
. Eminent domain -- Uses for which right may be exercised --
Limitations on eminent domain.
(1)
As used in this section:
(a)
"Century farm" means real property that is:
(i)
assessed under Title 59, Chapter 2, Part 5, Farmland Assessment Act; and
(ii)
owned or held by the same family for a continuous period of 100 years or more.
(b)
"Energy generation" means the production of electricity from any source, including
solar, wind, gas, geothermal, hydroelectric, or thermal.
(c)
(i)
"Energy generation facility" means a building, structure, equipment, or system
necessary for energy generation.
(ii)
"Energy generation facility" includes a substation, an inverter, a transformer, a
battery energy storage system, a collector system, or an interconnection facility.
(d)
"Mineral or element" means the same as that term is defined in Section
65A-17-101
.
(c)
(e)
(i)
"Mining use" means:
(A)
the full range of permitted or active activities, from prospecting and
exploration to reclamation and closure, associated with the exploitation of a
mineral deposit; and
(B)
the use of the surface, subsurface, groundwater, and surface water of an area
in connection with the activities described in Subsection

(1)(c)(i)(A)
(1)(e)(i)(A)
that have been, are being, or will be conducted.
(ii)
"Mining use" includes, whether conducted on-site or off-site:
(A)
sampling, staking, surveying, exploration, or development activity;
(B)
drilling, blasting, excavating, or tunneling;
(C)
the removal, transport, treatment, deposition, and reclamation of overburden,
development rock, tailings, and other waste material;
(D)
the recovery of sand and gravel;
(E)
removal, transportation, extraction, beneficiation, or processing of ore;
(F)
use of solar evaporation ponds and other facilities for the recovery of minerals
in solution;
(G)
smelting, refining, autoclaving, or other primary or secondary processing
operation;
(H)
the recovery of any mineral left in residue from a previous extraction or
processing operation;
(I)
a mining activity that is identified in a work plan or permitting document;
(J)
the use, operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, construction, or alteration
of a building, structure, facility, equipment, machine, tool, or other material or
property that results from or is used in a surface or subsurface mining operation
or activity;
(K)
an accessory, incidental, or ancillary activity or use, both active and passive,
including a utility, private way or road, pipeline, land excavation, working,
embankment, pond, gravel excavation, mining waste, conveyor, power line,
trackage, storage, reserve, passive use area, buffer zone, and power production
facility;
(L)
the construction of a storage, factory, processing, or maintenance facility; and
(M)
an activity described in Subsection
40-8-4(19)(a)
.
(2)
(f)
(i)
"Pipeline" means a pipeline, conduit, or related right-of-way or easement
used to transport natural gas, petroleum, a petroleum product, hydrogen, carbon
dioxide, or other gaseous or liquid substance.
(ii)
"Pipeline" includes a facility that is reasonably necessary to the operation of the
pipeline.
(2)
Except as provided in Subsections
(3)
, (4),
and
(5)
, and (7)
and subject to the
provisions of this part, the right of eminent domain may be exercised on behalf of the
following public uses:
(a)
all public uses authorized by the federal government;
(b)
public buildings and grounds for the use of the state, and all other public uses
authorized by the Legislature;
(c)
(i)
public buildings and grounds for the use of any county, city, town, or board of
education;
(ii)
reservoirs, canals, aqueducts, flumes, ditches, or pipes for conducting water or
sewage, including to or from a development, for the use of the inhabitants of any
county, city, or town, or for the draining of any county, city, or town;
(iii)
the raising of the banks of streams, removing obstructions from streams, and
widening, deepening, or straightening their channels;
(iv)
bicycle paths and sidewalks adjacent to paved roads;
(v)
roads, byroads, streets, and alleys for public vehicular use, including for access to
a development; and
(vi)
all other public uses for the benefit of any county, city, or town, or its inhabitants;
(d)
wharves, docks, piers, chutes, booms, ferries, bridges, toll roads, byroads, plank and
turnpike roads, roads for transportation by traction engines or road locomotives,
roads for logging or lumbering purposes, and railroads and street railways for public
transportation;
(e)
reservoirs, dams, watergates, canals, ditches, flumes, tunnels, aqueducts and pipes for
the supplying of persons, mines, mills, smelters or other works for the reduction of
ores, with water for domestic or other uses, or for irrigation purposes, or for the
draining and reclaiming of lands, or for solar evaporation ponds and other facilities
for the recovery of minerals or elements in solution;
(f)
(i)
roads, railroads, tramways, tunnels, ditches, flumes, pipes, and dumping places
to access or facilitate the milling, smelting, or other reduction of ores, or the
working of mines, quarries, coal mines, or mineral deposits including oil, gas, and
minerals or elements in solution;
(ii)
outlets, natural or otherwise, for the deposit or conduct of tailings, refuse or water
from mills, smelters or other works for the reduction of ores, or from mines,
quarries, coal mines or mineral deposits including minerals or elements in solution;
(iii)
mill dams;
(iv)
gas, oil or coal pipelines, tanks or reservoirs, including any subsurface stratum or
formation in any land for the underground storage of natural gas, and in
connection with that, any other interests in property which may be required to
adequately examine, prepare, maintain, and operate underground natural gas
storage facilities;
(v)
subject to Subsection
(6)
, solar evaporation ponds and other facilities for the
recovery of minerals in solution; and
(vi)
any occupancy in common by the owners or possessors of different mines,
quarries, coal mines, mineral deposits, mills, smelters, or other places for the
reduction of ores, or any place for the flow, deposit or conduct of tailings or refuse
matter;
(g)
byroads leading from a highway to:
(i)
a residence; or
(ii)
a farm;
(h)
telecommunications, electric light and electric power lines, sites for electric light and
power plants, or sites for the transmission of broadcast signals from a station licensed
by the Federal Communications Commission in accordance with 47 C.F.R. Part 73
and that provides emergency broadcast services;
(i)
sewage service for:
(i)
a city, a town, or any settlement of not fewer than 10 families;
(ii)
a public building belonging to the state; or
(iii)
a college or university;
(j)
canals, reservoirs, dams, ditches, flumes, aqueducts, and pipes for supplying and
storing water for the operation of machinery for the purpose of generating and
transmitting electricity for power, light or heat;
(k)
cemeteries and public parks; and
(l)
sites for mills, smelters or other works for the reduction of ores and necessary to their
successful operation, including the right to take lands for the discharge and natural
distribution of smoke, fumes, and dust, produced by the operation of works, provided
that the powers granted by this section may not be exercised in any county where the
population exceeds 20,000, or within one mile of the limits of any city or
incorporated town nor unless the proposed condemner has the right to operate by
purchase, option to purchase or easement, at least 75% in value of land acreage
owned by persons or corporations situated within a radius of four miles from the mill,
smelter or other works for the reduction of ores; nor beyond the limits of the
four-mile radius; nor as to lands covered by contracts, easements, or agreements
existing between the condemner and the owner of land within the limit and providing
for the operation of such mill, smelter, or other works for the reduction of ores; nor
until an action shall have been commenced to restrain the operation of such mill,
smelter, or other works for the reduction of ores.
(3)
The right of eminent domain may not be exercised on behalf of the following uses:
(a)
except as provided in Subsection
(2)(c)(iv)
, trails, paths, or other ways for walking,
hiking, bicycling, equestrian use, or other recreational uses, or whose primary
purpose is as a foot path, equestrian trail, bicycle path, or walkway;
(b)
(i)
a public park whose primary purpose is:
(A)
as a trail, path, or other way for walking, hiking, bicycling, or equestrian use;
or
(B)
to connect other trails, paths, or other ways for walking, hiking, bicycling, or
equestrian use; or
(ii)
a public park established on real property that is:
(A)
a century farm; and
(B)
located in a county of the first class.
(4)
(a)
The right of eminent domain may not be exercised within a migratory bird
production area created on or before December 31, 2020, under Title 23A, Chapter
13, Migratory Bird Production Area, except as follows:
(i)
subject to Subsection
(4)(b)
, an electric utility may condemn land within a
migratory bird production area located in a county of the first class only for the
purpose of installing buried power lines;
(ii)
an electric utility may condemn land within a migratory bird production area in a
county other than a county of the first class to install:
(A)
buried power lines; or
(B)
a new overhead transmission line that is parallel to and abutting an existing
overhead transmission line or collocated within an existing overhead
transmission line right of way; or
(iii)
the Department of Transportation may exercise eminent domain for the purpose
of the construction of the West Davis Highway.
(b)
Before exercising the right of eminent domain under Subsection
(4)(a)(i)
, the electric
utility shall demonstrate that:
(i)
the proposed condemnation would not have an unreasonable adverse effect on the
preservation, use, and enhancement of the migratory bird production area; and
(ii)
there is no reasonable alternative to constructing the power line within the
boundaries of a migratory bird production area.
(5)
If the intended public purpose is for a mining use, a private person may not exercise the
power of eminent domain over property, or an interest in property, that is already used
for a mining use within the boundary of:
(a)
a permit area, as defined in Section
40-8-4
;
(b)
an area for which a permit has been issued by the Division of Water Quality, as part
of the underground injection control program, under rules made by the Water Quality
Board in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act;
(c)
private property; or
(d)
an area under a state or federal lease.
(6)
(a)
For the purpose of solar evaporation ponds and other facilities for the recovery of
minerals or elements in solution on or from the Great Salt Lake, a public use includes
removal or extinguishment, by a state entity, in whole or in part, on Great Salt Lake
Sovereign lands of:
(i)
a solar evaporation pond;
(ii)
improvements, property, easements, or rights-of-way appurtenant to a solar
evaporation pond, including a lease hold; or
(iii)
other facilities for the recovery of minerals or elements in solution.
(b)
The public use under this Subsection
(6)
is in the furtherance of the benefits to public
trust assets attributable to the Great Salt Lake under Section
65A-1-1
.
(7)
(a)
A private person may not exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire an
estate or right for a pipeline to serve a property that is:
(i)
used for energy generation for the energy generator's own use or an energy
generation facility for use by the energy generation facility's beneficiary; or
(ii)
planned to be used for energy generation for the energy generator's own use or an
energy generation facility for use by the energy generation facility's beneficiary.
(b)
The prohibition described in Subsection (7)(a) does not apply to an eminent domain
action to acquire an easement to:
(i)
locate a pipeline within an existing utility easement or immediately adjacent to
and parallel with an existing utility line;
(ii)
locate a pipeline within or immediately adjacent to and parallel with an existing
or planned roadway; or
(iii)
construct a pipeline that will, or has the ability to, serve more than one customer
upon completion.
(c)
The prohibition described in Subsection
(7)(a)
applies to an eminent domain action
that is pending on, or occurs on or after, the effective date of this bill.
Section 2. Section
78B-6-502
is amended to read:
78B-6-502
. Estates and rights that may be taken.
Except as provided in Subsection
78B-6-501(3)
, (4),
or (5)
(5), or (7)
, the following
estates and rights in lands are subject to being taken for public use:
(1)
a fee simple, when taken for:
(a)
public buildings or grounds;
(b)
permanent buildings;
(c)
reservoirs and dams, and permanent flooding occasioned by them;
(d)
any permanent flood control structure affixed to the land;
(e)
an outlet for a flow, a place for the deposit of debris or tailings of a mine, mill,
smelter, or other place for the reduction of ores; and
(f)
subject to Subsection
78B-6-501(6)
,

solar evaporation ponds and other facilities for
the recovery of minerals in solution, except when the surface ground is underlaid
with minerals, coal, or other deposits sufficiently valuable to justify extraction, only a
perpetual easement may be taken over the surface ground over the deposits;
(2)
an easement, when taken for any other use; and
(3)
the right of entry upon and occupation of lands, with the right to take from those lands
earth, gravel, stones, trees, and timber as necessary for a public use.
Section 3. Section
78B-6-503
is amended to read:
78B-6-503
. Private property which may be taken.
Except as provided in Subsection
78B-6-501(3)
, (4),
or (5)
(5), or (7)
, private property
that may be taken under this part includes:
(1)
all real property belonging to any person;
(2)
lands belonging to the state, or to any county, city or incorporated town, not
appropriated to some public use;
(3)
property appropriated to public use, except that the property may not be taken unless for
a more necessary public use than that to which the property has already been
appropriated;
(4)
franchises for toll roads, toll bridges, ferries, and all other franchises, except that the
franchises may not be taken unless for free highways, railroads, or other more necessary
public use;
(5)
all rights of way for any and all purposes mentioned in Section
78B-6-501
, and any and
all structures and improvements on the property, and the lands held or used in
connection with the property, except that:
(a)
the property is subject to be connected with, crossed, or intersected by any other right
of way or improvement or structure;
(b)
the property is subject to a limited use in common with the owners, when necessary;
and
(c)
uses of crossings, intersections, and connections shall be made in the manner most
compatible with the greatest public benefit and the least private injury; and
(6)
all classes of private property not enumerated if the taking is authorized by law.
Section 4.
Effective Date.
This bill takes effect:
(1)
except as provided in Subsection (2),
May 6, 2026
; or
(2)
if approved by two-thirds of all members elected to each house:
(a)
upon approval by the governor;
(b)
without the governor's signature, the day following the constitutional time limit of
Utah Constitution, Article VII, Section 8; or
(c)
in the case of a veto, the date of veto override.
3-3-26 11:32 AM